This invention relates to machinery used to automate the production of automobile parts and more particularly to a method and apparatus for installing moldings to automobile door panels.
The inside of automobile door panels are generally formed of a plastic material and covered in cloth or vinyl material. In addition various trims made of metal, plastic or wood are added. The top portion of the door panel has a large opening to accommodate the window. The top edge of the door panel usually has a molding strip placed over the top edge to keep the cloth or vinyl material in place and to provide a cushion between the window and door panel. The molding strip also aids in keeping the window in its proper place when the window moves up or down in the window tracks inside of the door panel.
In the past, the door panel molding was installed by hand. The molding strip was lubricated with a slippery substance, usually soap, and positioned at one edge of the door panel. The strip was spread apart so that the door panel would fit inside of a channel at one end of the molding. The opposite end of the molding was then manually hit with a mallet until the molding was slid over the entire length of the door panel. The installation process took about one minute to complete per door panel. The installer had to be careful to continually guide the molding over the cloth or vinyl material so that the door panel stayed in the channel in the molding and at the same time had to be carefull not to tear the cloth or vinyl. If the cloth or vinyl tore, the panel was ruined.
Applicant recognized that a need existed for an improved method and apparatus for installing moldings to door panels in the automotive industry. The previous method was labor intensive and slow. It also resulted in ruined door panels as a result of tearing the cloth or vinyl material. In the highly competitive automotive industry, a machine was needed that would install the moldings to the door panels at greater speed and at less cost.
Applicant's invention comprises a new and unique method and apparatus for installing molding strips to the door panels on automobiles. The machine holds the door panel in place. A molding strip is manually placed in position and the machine automatically pushes it along the door panel into the final installed position. There is a mechanism to maintain pressure along the vinyl or cloth material at the proper points to keep the vinyl or cloth from bunching up in front of the molding strip as it is slid along the door panel. This minimizes the possibility of tearing the vinyl or cloth. The machine automatically resets so that after one molding strip is installed and the door panel removed, the machine is ready to begin another cycle. The machine is simple and efficient in design, easy to operate, and easy to maintain. The machine installs a molding strip onto the door panel in about 15 seconds, which is a substantial timesaving over the prior method.